Unable
to Break Away from the Conventions
| Characters: |
 |
Pronunciation:
Wei(4) Neng(2) Mian(3) Su(2)
Explanation:
Meaning that one has to follow the worldly
ways.
The Story: The famous scholar Ruan
Xian of the early Jin Dynasty and his uncle
Ruan Ji were both broad-minded and unconventional
men of letters. They both lived on the southern
side of a road while the other members of
the Ruan clan lived on the northern side.
All of the people living on the northern side
were rich and those on the southern side were
poor.
There was a tradition of sunning
clothes on the seventh day of the seventh
month-July. On that day one year, when families
on the northern side all put their silks and
satins in the sun in a big display of colour,
Ruan Xian sunned his worn short pants at the
end of a bamboo pole. People were puzzled
and asked him why. Ruan Xian answered: "Because
I am unable to break away from the conventions,
I've got to do this for appearance sake."
Usage Example (Pinyin):
wo(3) ye(3) wei(4) neng(2) mian(3) su(2),
gei(3) ta(1) mai(3) le yi(1) ge(4) zhong(1)
guo(3) jie(2).
Usage Example (English
translation): I was unable to break away
from the conventions, so I bought a traditional
Chinese knotted gift to her.
Note: The spoken Chinese
Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones. We have
attempted to re-create those above where after
each syllable we tell you (1), (2), (3), or
(4) as they correspond to each of the 4 tones.
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